Shield for glass water-gages.



No. 763,408. Q I PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904.

P. LAYTON.

SHIELD FOR GLASS WATER GAGES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22.1903.

N0 MODEL.

l 2 E I 1 l i a l WITNESSES: p INVENTOR Patented June 28, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

PETER LAYTON, or ANAOONDA, MONTANA.

SHIELD FOR GLASS WATER-GAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 763,408, dated June 28, 1904.

Application filed August 22, 1903.

1'0 MM w/wm, it may concern: 7 Be it known that I, PETER'LAYTON, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Anaconda, in

the county of Deerlodge and State of Montana, have invented new and useful Improvements I in Shields for Glass Water-Gages, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in what may be termed water-gageglass shields for tors.

It has for its object to afford protection against liability of the breaking of the glass gage from any cause and at the same time permit of the unobstructed viewing of the gage, while it is characterized by simplicity, is readily applied, and can be manufactured at the minimum cost. 7

Said invention consists of the combination, with a water-gage glass of a boiler, particularly for boilers, of a protector of transparent character, substantially as hereinafter more fully disclosed, and specificall y pointed out by the claims concluding the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the preferred embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 2 is adetail plan view, and Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section.

In the carrying out of my invention I provide for the protection of the water-gage glass 1 by inclosing it within a closure or casing 2, as shown, to prevent the breaking of said gage from any cause. Said closure or casing is made preferably triangular in cross-section or plan and comprises a bottom and a top plate or piece 3 and 3, respectively, each preferably a single casting. the bottom plate having an opening for the passage of the gage-glass and to permit it to rest in position upon the cock-casting, as shown. Said top plate is also adapted for the passage through it of said gage-glass and has in addition numerous openings or perforations P for ventilation or esscape of confined hot air from within the closure around the gage-glass. Said bottom and top plates or castings are provided at their corners or angles with openings through steam-boilers and lubrica- Serial No. 170,562. n.) model.)

' Whichpass rods 5, suitably secured to and connecting together said castings or plates.

Suitably slid into place from above down through slots 6, formed in and parallel with the longitudinal edges of the triangular top plate or piece 3, are plates of glass 7, their lower or bottom ends resting in grooves produced in the bottom plate 3, thus housing or incasing the gage-glass for the purpose aforesaid.

The gage-glasses used upon locomotives are necessarily subjected to enormous variations in external temperature, and the internal heat makes imminent the liability of breaking. I

have therefore provided a casing for inclosing such gage-glasses, the casing being made of trans parent material in order to facilitate the inspection of the glass without the necessity for the removal of the casing. It will readily be seen that the heated condition of the atmosphei e within the casing if left completely closed will produce condensation of its moisture, due to the chilling effect of the atmosphere on the outside of the casing, and the condensed moisture collecting upon the transparent walls of the casing will cause the same to become totally or at least semi opaque. It has been common heretofore to avoid this objection by only partially inclosing the gage-glass and leaving a longitudinal slot, which structure has been found'objectionable, due to the ready admis'sion of chilling atmosphere, tending almost as readily to break the glass as if the glass were totally exposed. The glass-gage protectors heretofore used and provided with longitudinal openings, as above described, are especially valuable to prevent breaking of the gage-glass by contact of foreign substances; but my improved structureis not only adapted for this valuable purpose, but also avoids, as above suggested, the possibility vof breaking the gage-glass through constant changes in the external temperature to which the glass may be subjected. Furthermore, I provide against the objectionable condensation of moisture within the casing by the provision of an upper plate 3, formed with a series of apertures, as is best seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings, spaced apart approximately equid stant and surrounding the upper end of the gage. I further provide, as best seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings, a suitable aperture in the lower plate closing the casing, whereby the heat within the inclosing casing is adapted to occasion a draft, causing the escape of heated atmosphere through the apertures at the upper end of the casing, a comparatively small quantity of cold atmosphere being admitted through the aperture in the lower plate. It is of course understood that the heating of atmosphere expands the same and a small quantity of cold atmosphere will readily supply the place of the heated atmosphere escaping from the upper end of the casing, and hence the proportionate ratio of area of discharge-openings in the upper plate relative to the area of the intake-opening in the lower plate. This further obviates the possibility of breaking the gage-glass by too rapidly admitting cold atmosphere to the interior of the casing.

It will be noted that the gage-glass protector thus provided being transparent permits the unobstructed viewing of said glass at all times and yet serves to guard the same from direct contact with anything which would be liable to result in the breaking of said glass. Said protector is also characterized for simplicity of construction, ready ap- 1 plication, the replacement of any one or more of its transparent portions which should become broken, and minimum cost of manufacture.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a gage-glass protector, the combination with a gage-glass, of a transparent casing completely surrounding the same, a perforated lower plate closing the lower end of said casing, and a plate closing the upper end of said casing formed with a series of perforations spaced apart at points substantially equidistant about the upper end of said gage-glass.

2. Ina gage-glass protector, the combination with a gage-glass, of a transparent casing completely inclosing said glass, a plate closing the lower end of said casing and formed with a relatively small, atmospheric intake-opening, and a plate closing the upper end of said casing and formed with a relatively large atmospheric discharge.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub-,

scribing witnesses.

PETER LAYTON. Witnesses:

FRED N. WILD, H. R. WHITEHILL. 

